Woven Thoughts

also spinning. and dyeing. in fact, anything fiber.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The 70's Are Calling. . .

This photo will give some people the heebie-jeebies :).

At least they are seasonal colors:

One good thing about having a dye day at guild is that the leftover dyes come home with me. I painted a few warps this morning, mostly for hand towels and napkins. These are cottons: 8/2 and 5/2, both unmercerized, and some flake. They will be sett at 20 ends per inch, the usual, for, the usual, gifts.

I just hope that the recipient's kitchens can handle this:

and I sincerely hope it does not presage the return of Harvest Gold and Avocado appliances, the stuff of nightmares.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Glove Covers

One of the yarns I purchased recently is this Icelandic singles from Frelsi Farms in Maine. I wanted to try some Icelandic, and in fact that was all I purchased at Rhinebeck: Icelandic yarns, Icelandic wool to spin, and more Icelandic yarns and some patterns. For this I blame Marcy, again, but that is a post for another day.

I had no plan when I bought these skeins;I just liked the colors. There were sample socks knitted with this yarn in the Frelsi Farm booth so I bought enough for socks. When I got home, I realized I could make glove covers for my plain (store bought) angora/wool blend gloves:

Details, such as they are, will go into my projects on Ravelry, but basically there is no pattern: cast on 48 stitches (US size 1 needles), knit until it's time to insert a gusset for the thumb, work until they are long enough, cast off, pick up for thumb and ta da: glove covers.

I made a pair of cashmere ones a few years ago, which I wear over my fingerless gloves:

I wear these while working in the studio in colder weather. My studio is a yurt, and there is a heater, but it takes a while. . . The place is, after all, a glorified tent.

3 ply handspun cashmere, over (purchased) alpaca fingerless gloves:

I guess having a little bit of stash yarn is a good thing: it certainly is quicker to knit up an idea when the yarns are sitting ready and waiting. Good thing my LYS is expanding (yay!) and just in time for Christmas. The question is: are those yarns that I am buying truly for gift making, or are they merely stash acquisition unchecked? :)

Monday, November 03, 2008

Chance

After a late-ish lunch one day in a nice cafe in Woodstock NY, in The Week Before Rhinebeck, Pete pulled out his knitting.

The waitress, a young woman, said she was a knitter too, so we took the opportunity to ask her why both knitting shops which used to be in Woodstock had closed. She did not know, but, she said, she liked the yarn shop in Tivoli better anyway.

That was all we needed, the quest had begun.

We did not know where Tivoli was, in relation to Woodstock, but she had given us rudimentary directions. We had a map. We had gas in the car and GPS.

Why, you ask, would three spinners need to go yarn shopping a few days before Rhinebeck? Who knows. Can you think of a better way to spend a sunny Autumn afternoon on the loose?

We set off.

We found the shop (hint: it was not really very close to Woodstock). We arrived after 5 pm. The sign on the door said the hours for Thursday were 5-7pm. Huzzah!

The small handwritten sign on the door said "Sorry, closed, be back later". Waaaaah.

But wait! Someone was inside! She was assiduously avoiding looking at us. We knocked. She avoided. We rattled the door. She avoided. We looked pitiful. She relented. She opened the door.

This was, indeed, fabulous yarn.

Nothing of the ordinary: only the exotic, unique and rare. Malabrigo. Artyarns, Blue Sky Alpacas, cashmeres, beaded silks, merinos, organic cottons, hand-dyes and more. A few books, a few accessories, magazines and trinkets, but mostly yarns.